Resurface in Tampa Bay - Project complete!

[KCNM]

So PB's tech came out to attempt to resolve the air in the pump. He resat the union to no effect. Double-checked my lid o-ring to no effect. Ran water over the drain plugs, lid, union, all the new plumbing from the existing line. None of it had any effect on the air coming in. I later duplicated his water testing more thoroughly, and had the same result.

So PB suggested and I agreed to call out leak detection for $200. If it's a problem in any work they did, they'll cover both the leak detection and the fix. If it's a problem in the preexisting lines, then I'll be responsible. I thought that was fair enough.

Electrician is supposed to come out tomorrow to finally move the junction boxes away from the pool decking and over to the wall. That's the last line item on the contract. The only thing open after that is the air suction issue.

 

[Newdude]

Y'all like pictures, right?

We, in fact, do. And WELL done !!!

Clearly you have earned a spot here so post em up.

How Clear is TFP Clear? Let's See (Pics Only Please).

How clear should my water be? A very common question. Here is mine on a calm morning where I could finally vacuum. Yes I know, I'm still manually vacuuming. It took me 7 years to finally get an SWG, I'm working on a robot. :) So now let's see your water clarity.

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Newdude]

Get a shot with no water movement so we can prove you have Phillips screws in the drain (my personal FAV test).

We certainly don’t need to talk about your chemistry, so we might as well talk about that.

 

[KCNM]

So PB confused dates on my project and another and electrician is not until next Wednesday. And, coincidentally, that also looks like when the leak test will happen.

 

[KCNM]

Get a shot with no water movement so we can prove you have Phillips screws in the drain (my personal FAV test).

We certainly don’t need to talk about your chemistry, so we might as well talk about that.
View attachment 377872

I'll do my best! Might be a difficult shot due to the drain being directly in the middle of the pool... I can say that I can see individual pebbles in the surface at 6 feet deep. So TFP method is working a charm so far.

I used to use the tablets as primary chlorination, and always had trouble with algae and had to shock it all the time. Looking back now, with what I've learned here, I suspect that years of using tablets pushed my stabilizers sky high and made it extremely difficult to get effective FC levels. I'll probably try to pawn off my remaining tablets to a neighbor if they still use them.

My CYA is still low, because I got shifted from Monday to Friday on the company schedule. And, well, they're getting paid to do the initial balance and I'm not soooooooo I've just been keeping the PH and chlorine levels stable.

 

[Newdude]

I'll probably try to pawn off my remaining tablets to a neighbor if they still use them

They last darn near forever when stored cool and dry. They can come in handy for vacations if you have some CYA wiggle room, or in the spring when all that rain dilutes you.

 

[KCNM]

@Newdude Well you'll have to wait til tomorrow for those pictures. I killed the pump but the wind was moving the water too much.

 

[KCNM]

So leak detection came out today. And they found and fixed the leak! Unfortunately it was in existing line and unrelated to the work being done, which means money out of my pocket. Once we dug it up, the issue was immediately obvious:



That's an expandable repair coupling, with a threaded end. Unsurprisingly, the threaded part was where it was leaking. This was done to replace a cracked joint, which was helpfully buried immediately next to this repair for posterity... And I suspect all of this was caused by that little black sprinkler hose that you can kinda see under the expansion coupling. My guess is that the original pipe was damaged when they were running the sprinklers.

Forgot to nab a picture of the repair, but it was basically done with 4 elbow bends so that it didn't need any kind of expandable coupling. Two elbow bends on the existing pipe, then two elbow bends on the new pipe, then connect the elbows together.

@Newdude I tried to get the screw on my phone, but the digital zoom was not good enough. So I grabbed my real camera, and it was out of battery. I swear I'll have your pictures tomorrow! Please don't bust my kneecaps!

 

[KCNM]

Well here's my attempt at getting the screw. Looks like it's a lost cause unless the water is really, really still.



Went ahead and got some more pictures with my better camera while I was out there:

 

[Newdude]

Close enough and WELL DONE !!!

 

[Bperry]

So leak detection came out today. And they found and fixed the leak! Unfortunately it was in existing line and unrelated to the work being done, which means money out of my pocket. Once we dug it up, the issue was immediately obvious:

View attachment 378084

That's an expandable repair coupling, with a threaded end. Unsurprisingly, the threaded part was where it was leaking. This was done to replace a cracked joint, which was helpfully buried immediately next to this repair for posterity... And I suspect all of this was caused by that little black sprinkler hose that you can kinda see under the expansion coupling. My guess is that the original pipe was damaged when they were running the sprinklers.

Forgot to nab a picture of the repair, but it was basically done with 4 elbow bends so that it didn't need any kind of expandable coupling. Two elbow bends on the existing pipe, then two elbow bends on the new pipe, then connect the elbows together.

@Newdude I tried to get the screw on my phone, but the digital zoom was not good enough. So I grabbed my real camera, and it was out of battery. I swear I'll have your pictures tomorrow! Please don't bust my kneecaps!

Bet you’re wishing you had a POSM about now? Previous Owner Seeking Missle.

 

[KCNM]

Bet you’re wishing you had a POSM about now? Previous Owner Seeking Missle.

This would certainly not have been the first one fired!

 

[Newdude]

This was done to replace a cracked joint, which was helpfully buried immediately next to this repair for posterity

I do this a lot both at home and at work. Usually I’m a clean everything up kinda guy but in this instance, if I’m ever digging there again, I want as much help as possible. 6 inches away might as well be a mile if you’re digging the wrong direction. And if somebody is digging there that doesn’t know to be careful, then they know they will have *new broken stuffs* if they keep going hard.

 

[KCNM]

@Newdude @Texas Splash

So it appears my pool guy today did a stupid? I wasn't home and want expecting him today since he came on Friday. Also I forgot to lock the Dang gate. Anyway, I tested just now since the little one wanted to swim. My PH is at 8.2 and my FC is at a whopping 20! It's almost like he added chlorine instead of acid. Is there any way to rapidly neutralize chlorine? I'm still in the first 28 days and the pool is not supposed to be shocked! I'm slightly freaking out.

 

[Texas Splash]

Seeing as how you're at day 28, I don't think two days is going to make or break the plaster. What's your CYA though? Also remember that your pH will read high when the FC is over 10.

 

[KCNM]

Ah ok I did not know about that FC / PH interaction. That's probably exactly the issue there, as my PH would normally be around 7.8 or so right now.

Our surface is only on day 19, Sept 29th. I did reach out to the owner of the service company, who said that it shouldn't be a problem this far in. However, he asked me to test it again tomorrow morning and that he would stop by with some neutralizer if it was still high. Apparently the guy only added one 2.5 gallon jug of 8% chlorine, so I'm assuming the CYA is just too low to absorb it? It's a tricky test, but I was still reading less than 30 when I tested yesterday. That is, I filled the tube all the way up and could still see the dot.

 

[Texas Splash]

With a CYA that low, the excess FC should get eliminated quite fast by the FL sunshine. Tomorrow it could be much lower.

 

[ajw22]

Apparently the guy only added one 2.5 gallon jug of 8% chlorine, so I'm assuming the CYA is just too low to absorb it?

320 oz of 8% chlorine will raise FC by 21. Exactly what you are measuring.

CYA does not absorb chlorine and your CYA level does not affect your FC test measurement.

CYA does buffer active chlorine and makes much of it reserve chlorine. Read CYA Chlorine Relationship - Further Reading

Your pool guy should be using PoolMath

 

[KCNM]

With a CYA that low, the excess FC should get eliminated quite fast by the FL sunshine. Tomorrow it could be much lower.

Yea it burns off pretty fast. I would trickle in some 10.5% bleach to take it up to three-ish, and that would be gone within a couple days. I've used almost 2.5 gallons over the 19 days, so maybe a gallon a week or so. But I suspect higher concentrations might also burn off faster?

320 oz of 8% chlorine will raise FC by 21. Exactly what you are measuring.

CYA does not absorb chlorine and your CYA level does not affect your FC test measurement.

CYA does buffer active chlorine and makes much of it reserve chlorine. Read CYA Chlorine Relationship - Further Reading

Your pool guy should be using PoolMath

Ok just read through that page. So chlorine combined with the CYA still shows up as FC, but is not actively sanitizing while it is?

And even if he doesn't use pool math, I am!

 

[ajw22]

So chlorine combined with the CYA still shows up as FC, but is not actively sanitizing while it is?

Correct. The chlorine will move from reserve chlorine to active chlorine as you need it.